Two-tier justice is taking over the courts

Two years ago, few had heard of the term ‘two-tier justice’. Indeed, Ministers and leaders across the criminal justice system have spent much of that time vigorously denying its existence. Yet the examples of a justice system which is failing to deliver ‘equality before the law’ are numerous: the failures of the police and prosecutors to act when individuals chanted for ‘jihad’ at a political rally; the sexual abuse of many hundreds of children in Rotherham because professionals feared being accused of racism; the postcode lottery of how non-crime hate incidents are recorded depending on which police force area you live in. 

The publication of the sentencing council’s instructions on how judges and magistrates should approach the process of sentencing convicted criminals is the latest evidence of a two-tier justice system at work.

The new guidelines for the ‘imposition of community and custodial sentences’ instruct judges and magistrates that they must request and consider a pre-sentence report before forming an opinion about sentencing, unless the court considers it unnecessary because they already have sufficient information about the offender.